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Family history through the alphabet – E is for Evidence

It took me far too long to learn the importance of evidence and of documenting my sources as I find them. This was partly because I found the formal documentation of sources in my tree software rather daunting. I now realise that even though I hopped over the formal documentation to start with that I could have saved myself a lot of extra work if I had at least used the notes section to jot down where I had found my information. The benefits of hindsight. Hopefully some day I will catch up with myself.

E is for Evans

E is also for Evans. Not a pedigree line for me, but nevertheless an important branch on my tree. My grandmother’s sister Jane Ann Turner (Auntie Jean) married a Welshman, William Daniel Evans in 1924. They lived in Swansea and had two boys born in the 1930s. Although I knew Auntie Jean from her regular visits to Northumberland I never met any of her family and have no idea whether her sons are still living or whether they had children. Too many Evanses in Glamorganshire for that line of research to be easy. Would love to hear from any of her family, so if you are one of her descendants reading this please drop me a comment and I will get back to you.

I am full of good intentions on this Fiona, but find it easier said than done. Always too eager to see where the trail leads so I tend to be in too much of a hurry to stop and document. Always regret it later though.

Another ex post Lynda, thanks. Like you, I always get so excited and in such a rush but have improved re: “evidence”. At least I’ve stopped scribbling the info on backs of envelopes, shopping docs & anything else that comes to hand :-D …

From my own experience, as well as the many I talk to with work, citing sources is not something you want to be bothered with when you are starting out – because it is just too hard. But somewhere along the line, they discover the value of i and start documenting, as well as playing catchup. Personally I’m still in the phase myself. But better late than never.

I still find formal citation very heavy going, but have at least started to use the notes options in the software to set up brief info on my sources. Have far too much catching up to do though. Hope that new starters will take a word of advice and document their sources from the beginning.